Did I really miss that goal?! A guest post by Kyle Luke.

           An interesting thing I’ve noticed about my memories is how they have the ability to haunt me and weigh me down if I think of something similar to it.  For example I remember not being able to score a goal when I was wide open in front of the net when I played hockey for my town team.  I remember the anger and frustration I felt for letting my team down and the shame I felt for not completing such an easy task.  I have recalled this memory so often that I now question just how similar it was to the actual experience as when I rationalize the memory I find some oddities that could not be true.  For example I remember receiving the pass from one of my friends who used to be my partner on defense.  At no point in time were we ever forwards at the same time and there would be no reason for him to be so deep in the offensive zone.  This made me wonder why I kept recalling this false memory and if other false memories were affecting me in a similar manner. 

                As we know, some of the best ways to encode memories is to think of how it can affect our survival.  Another good way of encoding is if the person is using a lot of adrenaline at the moment or if the person is afraid or feeling other powerful emotions.  I believe that it is possible to encode a false or inaccurate memory if it is constantly recalled and the person focuses on the emotion they felt during that time.  However, there are several problems with the manner of encoding as the person remembering is more likely to focus on exactly what frightened them or what scared them.  This makes their memory incomplete on what other aspects and details were going on around them at the time which invites the possibility of having false memories. 

                Most of the false memories that I am conscious of can be categorized into regret or frustration.  I believe the reason for this is that I have recalled memories of things that I have regretted so often that I have completely changed the original memory and because I focused more on my choices and what could have happened I mainly feel regret when I think of the memory.  The same can be said for some of the memories that I am frustrated about.  Now I use both of these types of memories to help push me into not making the same mistakes twice, such as missing an open goal in hockey or waiting till the last minute to complete school work.  Even though I realize that these memories that I recall are most likely inaccurate and false, I still use them as life lessons to make sure that I do not make the same mistake twice.  They also give me an incentive to not screw up again and to remember that I can still overcome any mistakes I make along the way.